Early Childhood Development Oklahoma Heritage Day wraps up a week of agriculture education

Students at Shawnee Early Childhood Development enjoyed a day full of Oklahoma heritage lessons at Oklahoma Heritage Day.

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By Jessica Walkerjessica.walker@news-star.com

The Shawnee News-Star

By Jessica Walkerjessica.walker@news-star.com

Posted May. 14, 2013 at 3:11 PM
Updated May 14, 2013 at 3:15 PM

By Jessica Walkerjessica.walker@news-star.com

Posted May. 14, 2013 at 3:11 PM
Updated May 14, 2013 at 3:15 PM

Students at Shawnee Early Childhood Development enjoyed a day full of Oklahoma heritage lessons at Oklahoma Heritage Day.

Oklahoma History Center representatives demonstrated how to wash clothes using a washtub and explained why cowboys wear hats, spurs, boots, and chaps. Sunny Saunders, Library Media Specialist, said the students have been learning about agriculture all week and finished by learning from the Oklahoma History Center and Ag in the Classroom.

Both Austin Brown, 6, and Keegan Shaw, 5, said learning how to wash clothes using a washtub and learning about lye soap was their favorite part of the day.

“The roping is pretty cool too,” Brown said.

Levi Kelly, 7, said his favorite part was hearing about cowboy clothing. He said he doesn’t own a pair of cowboy boots yet, but he wants a pair after hearing about why cowboys wear them.

The students were also able to watch the Oklahoma Kid Marty Tipton, a descendant of Will Rogers, do a few rope tricks. Emerson Thomas, 6, said the ‘rodeo guy’ was her favorite part of heritage day. Tipton’s daughter, Bella, attends Early Childhood and she also showed off her roping skills for the students.

Saunders said the students learn about agriculture every year, but this year is the first year to have the heritage day. Ag in the Classroom brought Bessie, a cow cutout, to show students how to milk a cow.

“Kids don’t think about a carton of milk coming from a cow,” Saunders said.

She said the students think it’s neat to learn about how they get their food. The students learned about soybeans and cotton and Saunders said the students were able to taste the soybeans.

During the week, the students discussed pork and Saunders said she had to explain the difference between pork and a hamburger. Saunders said the students were taught about pigs and cows and the differences in what they provide.

The students also watched 19 eggs hatch after keeping them in an incubator. Saunders said the chicks went to a farm at two weeks old, but the students were able to watch as the process happened. The students learned how chickens hatch from eggs in an activity called Magic of Agriculture. The students would wave a wand in front of a photo of an egg and when the picture was lifted, there was a photo of a chicken, said Saunders.